Tour du Mont Blanc

We meet at Geneva Airport at 1 pm and travel by private vehicle into Chamonix. After checking in, stroll through this world-famous Alpine snow-mountain town, or sit for a while in one of the many cafés lining its streets and catch your first distant glimpse of Mont Blanc. In the evening, at the welcome dinner, your Chinese-speaking experience leader will lay out the route map for the next 8 days. The journey begins here.

Today is the most iconic frame of the entire route. We take the Flégère cable car up into the high mountains, then pass among the needle peaks and along ridge trails to reach Lac Blanc (2352m). The lake reflects the whole Mont Blanc massif, as granite, snow and ice, and water meet in a single picture. Lunch is a picnic by the lake, and in the afternoon we return along the Grand Balcon Sud. This is where the TMB starts to look most like a film.

The cable car goes straight up to Aiguille du Midi (3777m) for a 360° view of the peaks of France, Italy and Switzerland, with Mont Blanc almost close enough to touch. We then descend to the middle station and begin hiking along the Grand Balcon Nord, looking down over the Mer de Glace glacier all the way. After reaching Montenvers, you can visit the blue ice cave, then ride the little cog railway back down. This is the most awe-inspiring day of the whole journey: the timescale of the glacier and the scale of a human being, placed in the same space.

Today a private vehicle takes us through the Mont Blanc Tunnel, and we officially cross from France into Italy. Entering the Val Veny valley, we follow the trail to Lac Combal and Rifugio Elisabetta. The lake quietly mirrors the needle peaks, and the refuge at the head of the valley shines like a lamp at the end of the world. This is the first high point of the journey. You can enjoy a drink at Elisabetta before heading back.

This is the absolute highlight of the entire route. In the morning we take the cable car up to Plan Chécrouit to start the day's hike, following the Mont de la Saxe ridge with the south face of Mont Blanc on your left and the ice walls of the Grandes Jorasses on your right, the whole ridge completely open. In the afternoon we reach Rifugio Bonatti, where you can have a beer or a coffee, take in the view of Mont Blanc's south face and watch the light shift and change. For many people, this moment is what makes it the most worthwhile day of the TMB.

The most symbolic day of the journey. Up on the pass you stand on a real national border: on one side the rugged glacial rock walls of Italy, on the other the soft green valleys of Switzerland. At midday we picnic on the Grand Col Ferret pass as the wind blows between the valleys of the two countries. In the evening we arrive in the small town of Vevey on the shores of Lake Geneva, as the journey moves from the grandeur of the high mountains to the calm of the lakeside. For the last evening we have arranged a special farewell dinner: amid the shimmering lake and the night, we raise a glass to the journey we have walked together and say a proper goodbye to the companions who shared the way.

The last morning is saved for Vevey's quiet lakeshore.

Morning light falls on the surface of Lake Geneva as the distant mountains, vineyards and little town slowly wake in the light mist. Take a slow walk along the lake and think back over every scene of this journey, from the snowy mountain trails to this lakeside town. After breakfast we check out, and we will arrange for you to experience a Swiss train ride to Geneva Airport, or you can carry on to the next chapter of your own European travels. The train glides slowly along the lakeshore and through the vineyards, and the shimmering lake, distant mountains and terraced slopes passing outside the window feel like the journey's final, gentle farewell.